It’s nearly here folks, the 2017 World Championship Finals. If you have a ticket to SteamCon USA, you could be a part of it!

Have You Got the Eye of the Tiger?

It all kicks off with the US Championship Last Chance Qualifier on Friday 1st of December. Those fortunate enough to advance will be invited to compete in the Guild Ball US Championship on Saturday 2nd of December. Finally, our newly crowned US Champion will get the chance to represent the United States of America at the World Championship Finals on Sunday 3rd of December!

The Best of the Best

Let's have a look at those who've qualified, these are some of the best Guild Ball coaches in the world:

‘Crazy’ Blaine Dobson - Canada - Qualified with Hunters

Not a lot is know about Blaine except that he certainly lives up to the nickname ‘Crazy’. Blaine likes to play in an unpredictable manner and that makes him both particularly dangerous to face and exciting to watch.

‘Charles Nurser’ Charles Nurser - SteamCon UK - Qualified with Union

No man living has a better grasp of the concept of nicknames. As the runner up at the SteamCon UK Last Chance Qualifier, Charles has the ticket because Henry Kay was unfortunately unable to make the journey to the USA. However, don’t let that fool you into thinking that Charles is easy opposition. His favoured Guild is usually the Morticians, yet Charles almost qualified for the World Championship with a Guild he was relatively new to playing.

Christian Metz - Germany - Qualified with Masons

Christian has taken the German Guild Ball circuit by storm this year. Listen, and understand. That German is out there. He can’t be bargained with. He can’t be reasoned with. He doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are tabled.

Fraser McFetridge - Ireland - Qualified with Alchemists

The King beyond the Wall, Fraser is a Scottish Guild Ball coach that successfully made the trip to the Irish Championship. Fraser is a fairly old hand in Guild Ball terms since he has been playing his trusty Masons since the distant days of Season 1, but actually managed to win the Irish Championship with Alchemists. Capable of both tactical genius and tactical idiocy in equal measure.

John ‘JJ’ Layfield - United Kingdom - Qualified with Engineers

Another WTC team England coach, although, no one really knows where JJ comes from. Some say his accent is perfectly tuned to irritate the average ear. Some say that he’s been sent from another planet to test and generally annoy most of humanity. Either way, someone better make sure he doesn’t win or we’ll never hear the end of it.

Peter Williamson - Australia - Qualified with Hunters

Continuing the theme of successful travelling coaches, Peter is a New Zealander that travelled to Australia to compete in their national event. Clearly a coach with the intent to succeed (or possibly just party) Peter had already arranged to travel to SteamCon UK AND SteamCon US before even playing in the Australian nationals.

Rickard Andersson - Sweden - Qualified with Fishermen

Sweden is the newest country to receive a World Championship qualification spot, they competed for the first time this year. From everything we’ve heard, competition is fierce in this fast growing community. It’s going to be exciting to see how the Swedes perform on the world stage.

And there is of course one last spot for the winner of the US National Championship! Will it be you!?

That’s our roster of national champions for 2017 complete except for the representative of the USA, who is still to be decided at SteamCon US. If you don’t have a ticket to SteamCon US you can catch all the action of the 2017 Guild Ball World Championship Finals via livestream from Strictly the Worst podcast.